Löfstad Church in Tranås

Early morning today! I wanted to get to the church for Sunday morning services. I got here in time to get ready, but even with such a small town, I managed to turn myself around. Five minutes until the service started and I asked a woman at the ICA if she knew where the church was. She did! She explained in detail how to get to the church and she made sure I understood. It was right where she said it would be and with two minutes to spare.

Several churches in Sweden tend to run by a similar calendar with various themes every week relating to the church year (Think about the Psalmer för Livet CD set). Today's theme was angels, specifically St. Michael. Sixty of sixty-six books of the Bible mention angels. A little fast fact I learned this morning at the church. Even though I've never been to a service at the church, it was very familiar due to the similarities churches have no matter where you go. The congregation was very welcoming. I was greeted and several people stopped to talk, even though they'd never seen me before.

The Pastor, Per-Gunnar, also welcomed me and provided a little background on the church itself. Original parts of the church are from 1872 and has been renovated several times, the last time 1964. It will be renovated again shortly. The church is a blend of three different congregations. In 2008, they built a new congregation from a Covenant church, a Baptist church, and an Alliance church. The local area was originally called Löfstad, but was later changed to Tranås, so when the new congregation formed in '08, they called it by the original name of the area.

The congregation itself is a lively blend of people from all ages and backgrounds and it looks like there is a lot of engagement from the people within the church. A lot of people stayed for coffee and conversation after the church service was over.

Just as I was leaving, I heard them discussing plans to set up for tonight. They were expecting a pretty large size group. I asked if they would like some more help and they said yes, so I'll be heading down there an hour early to help set up. What fun!